Who is Charles De Ketelaere ?
Belgium has a history of producing young and exciting talents like Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois, and Axel Witsel, who all had their humble beginnings in Belgium League. They were touted as the ‘Golden Generation’.
One such young talent who currently plies his trade with Club Brugge is Charles De Ketelaere. The youngster started his career early for Club Brugge. He made his debut against Francs Borains. The 19-year-old has already stepped foot under the glittery lights of the UEFA Champions League.
We will look at his seasonal heatmap
Charles’s versatility is an advantage. CKD, apart from playing as a striker, can also be deployed on either the left side or right flank and behind the strikers. His ability to adapt to positions is a big plus for any club. Plus his height is also good which is 6 ft 3 inches.
Using his tall frame he dribbles past defenders which can be tough to stop him. He possesses a flair for doing that.
Off the Ball Movement
His positional awareness and vision for picking out teammates are that of a seasoned player, despite him being only 19 years of age. He can find the space in between the lines and behind the opposition defense. Looking at his passing stats he has made accurate passes 23.2 per game. Out of which he has delivered 18.7 of those in the opposition half. The 19-year-old has made 2.90 long passes which put him into the 92 percentile. His ability to exploit defense makes him handy for his team. He has made 2.0 key passes every match which puts him into the 96 percentile. He has made 3.45 progressive passes, good enough to put him into the 96 percentile. However, one should note that despite his all good things he is poor at crosses where he has attempted 75 crosses and had a success ratio of 23.1%. That he needs to work on the training.
Looking at his visualizations, we can see that in both wings where it darkens is where he made the most passes.
We can see that he was threatening from both wings, from the left wing he created more expected threats in the form of assists, and goal-threatening passes.
Fox In the Box
Over the last 3 seasons, we have seen Charles’s goal tally rise as he made a progression of goals from 1 goal,4 goals to 14 goals in the 2021/22 season.
We can see his increase in goal tally from his performance chart. We can see that his goal scoring ability increasing over the year and it’s bound to increase if he makes move to a top club in Europe.
We can see from the visualization that he ranks behind Jelle Vossen, who has scored 17 goals. One must take this with a pinch of salt that Charles is only 19 and he has bagged 14 goals. One can expect him to improve his goal-scoring tally as he becomes a more seasoned forward.
From the visualization, we can see that he falls into the first quadrant. He is an efficient shooter with shots on target percentage of 66.7% and they were in goal.
His 14 goals came from only 31 shots on target in Belgian League, it goes on to show that he is a lethal and efficient winger. He has scored all 14 goals from inside the box. His large frame helped him as he scored 2 headers.
Along with his 14 goals he has made 5 assists, which puts him into the top quadrant.
Defensive Output
Charles is a very physical player, not afraid to go in a 1 vs 1 duel. He is usually seen challenging opponents to win back possession of the ball. He drops into the deeper positions to help out his teammates.
He can put a shift in and start counter attacking from the back. His ability to defend in his half as well as attacking half has seen him deployed as a left full-back. He possesses a dual mindset(attacking and defensive).
He is not afraid of going shoulder to shoulder and challenging for the ball. Even though he is not a fullback as he has a more attacking mindset, he is not afraid to switch defensively when the situation arises. He is not afraid of pressing his opponents to make a mistake.
He ranks 96 percentile in pressures being made. However, what makes him a physical forward is that he tends to foul his opponents. He is not afraid to go toe to toe with defenders. He has 1.27 tackles per 90, which puts him in the 91 percentile. The 19-year-old has intercepted the ball 0.36 times. Though one weakness that can be pointed out is in the air. One would think that him being 6 ft 3 inches he would be winning aerial duels. It can’t be true as he usually shies away from doing aerial duels.
Final Verdict
Seeing his massive performances in the previous season, a host of clubs are after him. As per the news, Leeds United is after the 19-year-old Belgian. Following the departure of Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City, they are looking to reinforce their midfield. But he has declined their advance to seek glory with recently-crowned Serie A champions Milan. The deal looks positive and he might be a Rossoneri in the coming days. Watch this space, as the transfer unfolds.
